Paris recently hosted a Retail Marketing event called Point De Ventre. Ian Whitney from our Paris office went along, shot some video and made a quick presentation of some of the innovative technology that delivers meaningful shopper engagement.
Great sign-off Ian!
Here is an interesting in-store device that comes via Unplugged. Spotted at Ikea in Seattle was this Mobile Kiosk where you register to recieve product info. and coupons.
We all know that non of us can live without our cell phone anymore and it's role continually changes. No longer just a means to call home now it's your weather reporter/news aggregator/social networker/information hound.
With Ikea it can be a tool to know when the newest products are available in-store, and a mechanism to deliver digital coupons so you can save cash.
What is also interesting about this technology and the use Ikea is making of it is that it delivers a relevant brand-to-individual consumer (1-to-1) communication - 'Since you bought a couch last month, how about this coffee table to go with it?' - rather than a brand-to-masses communication - the usual 'Hi everyone, here's all of our stuff'. So it becomes a great brand use of data and the deigital medium in the retail space. But is it cool, or will it be annoying to get these texts about a new sofa once a week?
- Contributed by Brian Crawford
An interesting piece in the Weekend Wall Street Journal this Saturday prompts a question regarding how shoppers are engaged to buy a product. The article talks about high-end boutiques and retailers in New York City calling or emailing consumers to tell them which expensive items their loved ones would like or might be interested in. It's part of a growing trend by these retailers, both on and off-line, to increase their holiday retail sales...and for some consumers it's a god-send, yet for others it's an unwanted intrusion.
While the article depicts a fairly "narrow" circumstance, it does point to the opportunity to engage consumers differently. The idea of reaching out to consumers to guide their purchases is not new - we've all received Catalina coupons in grocery stores that offer an incentive to buy a like (or competitive) product based on our purchase the clerk just scanned, and it's hard to avoid Amazon's "If you like this, you might also like this" approach to suggestive selling (which, by the way, really works). Starbucks this past year began leveraging Apple's iPhone and the iTunes music service - shoppers walk into a cafe to buy a latte, hear music in the store, and are automatically contacted via WiFi on their iPhone with a message "If you like this song, please hit 'purchase' " and the song is downloaded to their phone.
There are new technologies coming that will further enhance these opportunities to reach out to consumers and "help" their shopping. The advanced mobile phones from Europe and Asia that store credit card data on handsets and read RFID tags are coming to the U.S. 
And the ability to scan UPC codes at shelf with a mobile handset and automatically receive product information and, more importantly, consumer reviews to help select (or worse de-select) a particular product at the exact moment of purchase decision is right around the corner. The downside is that consumers can also then determine where to go to find the best price for that product, which might not be in that particular store. But rather than feel defensive, brands should embrace that "moment of choice" for the shopper to proactively engage the potential buyer with information (and better yet an experience) that helps them close the sale right then and there. And ideally sets up a repeat engagement with that same buyer the next time they're in the market for the product.
Brands need to think about a broader range of influences on their shoppers. The myriad of communication vehicles traditionally deployed to reach consumers will continue to be important. But it's the combination of those elements with new, different contact points that will create the newest, best ways to influence purchase behavior. As shopper behavior shifts, so the need for brand behavior to change increases, and finding ways to effectively reach out and "suggest" a specific purchase is something to add to the communication arsenal. While right for some brands, it is appropriate behavior for all?
Contributed by Marc Ducnuigeen
I recently reported on Google vs. Apple mobile technology, speculating whether Google's announced plans to open their OS platform to independent developers would alter Apple's closed-technology position.
The answer remains to be seen, but today Verizon announced their plans to open their mobile network to a variety of hardware providers, not just those models Verizon sells, the New York Times reported.
This move marks a major shift in the industry that we speculate other carriers will have little choice but to follow. If Sprint, AT&T, T Mobile and the others follow suit, people will soon have the ability to select the device of their choice and link it to their chosen carrier, and take the device with them if they decide to change carriers.
This is very, very good news for mobile phone users at large. There will be technical limitations at first: not every device will synch with the Verizon network initially. But it could nevertheless lead to a U.S. mobile market more similar to Europe and Asia, where hardware and telephony services are largely unbundled and individuals benefit from greater choice and competition.
Verizon's move also underscores a significant difference from Apple's iPhone, which is currently only available through contract with AT&T, to the dismay of legions of iPhone users who complain of inferior connectivity compared to BlackBerry and other mobile networks.
Verizon's move has won praise from Google, Microsoft and the FCC, all of who understand that greater choice will inevitably lead to greater innovation and cost competitiveness. Still, many questions remain unanswered, and many technical challenges remain unsolved. But we can all agree that Verizon's move is a step in the right direction, where consumers and companies may plan an equal role in shaping the future of mobile telephony.
Leading up to the 1994 Winter Olympics, Tonya Harding's ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, tried to break competitor Nancy Kerrigan's knees, and the incident pitted the two against one another like Good vs. Evil: Nancy, tall and beautiful, dressed in white, vs. Tonya's thin-lipped trailer-trash demeanor. Nancy went on to win Silver that year and an all-American heroine was made. Then she stepped in it, insulting her $2MM sponsor Disney when she said, regarding a promotional appearance she was obligated to make, "This is dumb. I hate it. This is the most corniest thing I have ever done." America was shocked. Nancy retired from competition. David Letterman quipped, "what if it turned out that Nancy was the evil one after all?"
During the PC wars of the 80's and 90's, Microsoft and Apple were similarly pitted: Windows for PC black boxes, closed technology, apparently run by malicious, greedy men who wanted nothing less than to crush the competition and dominate the world; and Apple, brave, noble, enlightened, light-colored, toiling to free mankind from software bondage. To many Americans, the rivalry was on the level of Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker.
Fast forward to present. Bill Gates, alongside wife Melinda and Bono, TIME’s People of the Year. A visionary, a great man, the most generous philanthropist the world has ever known. Who could have predicted it? Things change quickly.
Google recently announced that its phone will be based on open-source technology, right down to the OS. Any programmer will be able to create applications, from social-networking applications to photo-share programs to multi-player games.
iPhone by contrast? Closed technology. Applications by Apple. Look at the thing: there's no apparent way to open the device short of smashing it. What happened to the Apple of 1984?
What if it turned out that Apple was the evil one after all?
Apple's reaction to Google's announcement remains to be seen. Will they break down the walls? Or will Open- vs. Closed-source be the key difference between these new competitors? Do the best programmers Apple has stand a chance against a worldwide legion of independent developers?
Whether Apple prevails or consumers choose an open-source platform like the Google Phone will be revealed early next year, at the cash register.
- Andrew Morse
